It may have been the first group 1 raceday without disqualified trainer Darren Weir, but the spectre of the former champion cast a long shadow over Caulfield on Saturday.
In almost every race on the card there were one, two or even three former horses of the Ballarat-based Weir's Forest Lodge yard. They were all now running for different trainers, some carrying different colours and some partnered by different riders.
Trainer Ciaron Maher saluted with ex-Darren Weir stayer Yogi in the first race of Caulfield Stakes Day.Credit:AAP
Weir was the name on everyone's lips: punters wondering how his former gallopers would fare under new management, and rival trainers voicing a little more optimism that they now wouldn't have to compete with the Weir juggernaut.
In the end three of the nine winners were horses formerly in the care of the disgraced champion, while several others performed with great credit including Land of Plenty, who, now under the care of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, dead-heated for second place in the group 1 feature, the CF Orr Stakes.
It's hardly surprising: Weir was only disqualified on Wednesday after not contesting charges related to the possession of jiggers, electrical devices that could be used to improve a horse's performance, and of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing.
The hard work had been done, the time and effort on the gallops at Ballarat already put in: some of the horses were rock-hard fit, others were well on the way to full fitness given their major targets might be a few weeks or months down the track.
And whatever one thinks of Weir, no one could argue with the fact that he was a master conditioner of horses.
Certainly none of those who inherited some of the best gallopers in the country would, and all who had winners or placed horses who used to run under the Weir banner testified to the excellent condition in which they had been handed over.
The first to score was the stayer Yogi in the opening event: he looked to have little chance when he was out the back turning into the straight, but he responded well to Craig Williams' urgings and got up to win close to the line, giving Maher and Eustace their first metropolitan winner with an ex-Weir horse.
He was the first leg of a double for owner Darren Dance, who landed the second event with Crack The Code, although she had always been at trainer Mick Price's Caulfield stable.
"I think the way Forest Lodge handled the situation – briefing the trainers on where the horses were at and what needed to be done and what had been done – was outstanding," Dance said.
"It was a testament to Darren Weir and the rest of the team that they were prepared to talk to Ciaron Maher about where he was at and what should happen. I can't thank Forest Lodge enough for what they have done, and it's a good start with Ciaron."
The next Weir horse to salute was for champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller, the freakishly fast sprinter Nature Strip, ridden by regular pilot Damian Lane, landing the Rubiton Stakes with his head in his chest.
The third leg of the Weir "hat-trick" came from Hawkshot, one of a handful of horses to be sent to Weir's closest numerical rival, the David Hayes/Tom Dabernig/Ben Hayes training troika.
The three-year-old will now be set for the Australian Guineas after making all the running under regular pilot Mark Zahra to win the group 2 Autumn Stakes from another former Weir stablemate, Declares War.
Zahra bounced the son of Fiorente out of the barriers and made all the running, and was quick to praise the work Weir had done with the gelding, saying they had spent some time trying to teach him to settle in his races.
"Today he relaxed beautifully in front for me," Zahra said.
Ben Hayes added: "He's only been in our yard since Monday, but he is very fit and he had some serious horses behind him. He looks a Guineas horse now."
• Weir's former Warrnambool foreman, Jarrod McLean, is contesting the charges so he is allowed to continue training until his case is heard.
He brought his star galloper, Trap For Fools to run in the last race, the Carlyon Cup, and he ran creditably to finish fifth trying to give weight away to all his rivals bar fellow group 1 winner Harlem.
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